


with all disrespect

by anddirtyrain



Series: The modern AU files [1]
Category: Reign (TV)
Genre: Gen, Rated T for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-21
Updated: 2015-06-21
Packaged: 2018-04-05 11:33:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4178232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anddirtyrain/pseuds/anddirtyrain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I moved in across the street and you always have people over and the street is crowded with cars all the time and the music is too loud and this is getting to be too much so I’m going to stomp over and yell at you about it but oh no you’re hot AU, or</p><p>Mary just wants to sleep but her blond neighbor is an ass.</p>
            </blockquote>





	with all disrespect

 It’s ridiculous.

_This is fucking ridiculous._

She grabs another pillow and pushes it against her ears, hoping to drown out the sound of – _is that Macklemore?_  -blasting from the house across the street.

It wasn’t enough that the entire street seemed to be crowded with cars 24/7, did they also have to blast music until ungodly hours of the night? What did they even  _do_  during the day? A lot of people on their street were students who rented out because of how close it was to campus; there was an old lady next door, a flower shop managed by a nice little couple right on the corner, this dude who raised corgis, all perfectly normal (except for the corgi guy, he  _was_  kind of weird), perfectly nice people, and – Mary cringes as pure undiluted BASS seems to blast off the walls- that freaking 24/7 wanna be club right across the street.

She’s suddenly distracted from the beginnings of yet another generic ‘live while you’re young” anthem when she hears the distinctive click-clack of heels on the hardwood floors.

Heels…Kenna in, oh no.  _Oh no._

“What do you think you’re doing?” she asks a little angrier than intended when Kenna walks right pass her door, outfit and make-up done to perfection.

“Mary!” she exclaims, “I thought…you were asleep…” Well at least she has the decency to look sheepish.

“I can’t,” she says. “Sleep, that is. Why? You know why. I’ve been complaining about the reason ever since we moved in.” She sits up in bed, tugging her comfy cow-patterned hoodie tighter around herself. “But,” she says, continuing her tirade, “I asked you first. Where you goin’ buddy?”

 Kenna looks around the room for a solid three Mississippi’s, briefly contemplating Mary’s window as if leaving through it was a valid option. Finally, she sighs.

“They invited us as soon as we moved in, it’s only polite-“

“They didn’t invite us, they yelled at us across the street that if the music bothered us so much we could join-“

“Mary, it’s not even bad music-“

“It’s fraternizing with the enemy!” she exclaimed. (Ok, so maybe she was being a little immature. But, fuck it, she hadn’t slept well in 3 days, she’d e _arned_ immature.)

Kenna just gave her one of the stares she bestowed upon those who dared get in her way, a particular cocktail of annoyance, disappointment, and “live a little”, that Mary had been on the receiving end of far too many times. It was her turn to sigh.

“Who are you trying to impress, anyway?” she asked Kenna, eyeing the gorgeous little black number she’d donned, that showed off her mile-long legs, and the sparkly pumps on her feet.

“Can’t a strong woman like me go out, outfit on point, just for the hell of it?” she retorted, glad to change the subject from her apparent betrayal.

“Of course. But we’ve been friends since we were six,” Mary tells her knowingly. “I know your M.O”

Kenna waits all of two beats before she spills.

“His name is Sebastian, but everyone calls him Bash; he’s the one who _invited_  us. He and his little brother are the ones who live across the street.”

Kenna is treated to a particularly good “unimpressed Mary” look, and has the good sense to leave before the lasers coming out of her eyes actually do permanent damage to her outfit.

“If you can beat them, join them, right?” she asks wearing an awkward little smile, before disappearing from her doorway.

Mary simply huffs in annoyance and sinks back into her pillow fort, rolling her eyes.

 

 

At 11:46 pm, roughly half an hour after Kenna left their house, the usual music changes and Halsey sounds loud (really loud) and clear from across the street. At least 5 songs in a row play, and she half-smiles before returning to her scheduled irritation at their lack of manners. She could be wrong, but she bets the music is all thanks to Kenna. It’s been on repeat at their house for days now (at considerate decibels, because they’re not fucking rude like their across-the-street neighbors).

 

 

At 12:30 she gives up on pre-studying.

 

 

1:45 finds her with her earphones on, trying to catch up with Sense8 on Netflix.

(She gives up around 1:57)

 

 

At 2:15, Mary is at her wits end. She’s called the cops on them, twice now, and the second time they didn’t even show up. She literally has no idea what to do anymore, and she refuses to adapt like Kenna has been telling her to do, and like apparently the rest of the street has done already, because it’s not fair.

(3 minutes later she’s crossing the street, the trash sea that is their front lawn, littered with red solo cups, and knocking on the door even though it’s wide open.)

 

  

The guy who shows up at the door when she asks for the owner of the house is not what she expected. By a long shot. Directly in her field of vision is a mess of blond curls and the brightest, deepest blue eyes she has ever seen. And a goofy smile to boot. Fuck.

“I…” She licks her lip nervously, thrown off course.

“Yeah?” He takes a sip of the beer in his hand.  “I gather you’re not here for the party”, he smiles that stupid smile again and waves to her outfit. Mary looks down.

She’s wearing pajamas. The comfiest, rattiest pair of pajamas she owns, and her cow-patterned hoodie on top.  _Fuck._

She refuses to duck her head in embarrassment even when she can feel the warmth on her cheeks, though, and shakes her head.

“This,” she vaguely motions to the house, the cars lining the street, and also possibly his stupid smile, “this needs to stop. Right now.”

He eyes her with an odd glint in his eye, something like amusement swimming in their depths. Oh god, she is not comparing his eyes to an ocean. No.

“Or maybe you could just join us?” he asks her. “Your roommate got here a while ago, she and my brother are out back.”  

She’s this close to asking him how he knew Kenna was her roommate, considering the ridiculous amount of people they have over (seriously, are they trying to turn this into a domestic club? Is that a thing?), and then holds herself back because none of them are wearing pajamas and a pissed off expression. Also, not relevant.

“My roommate,” oh she’s making Kenna do the dishes for a _week_ , “doesn’t have a car. I do. You know what I’d like to do with my car? Park in my driveway. Which I can’t do, sadly, because your guests keep using the entirety of the street like their personal garage.”

He looks past her to her driveway, where a flashy Rolls Royce sits.

“That’s my cousin Conde’s car,” he tells her, “he’s an ass, you can crash into it if you want.” He shrugs.

“What kind of name is Conde?” she finds herself saying. “Wait-don’t answer that. And I don’t want to crash his car. I want to park in my driveway. I want to fall asleep to the sound of silence, or cars, or hell, even cats mating-“

“Cats mating?”

“I don’t know, ok?” she shakes her head, “anything but your goddamn music!”

He looks stunned at her final words, and the smile slowly slips off his face. (She doesn’t like at all how it feels to have caused that. Which, stupid Mary. Stop.)

“Wow. I’m sorry. I- My brother and I…we’re just trying to have some fun before the term starts, we didn’t mean to bother anyone. I didn’t think it was that loud.”

“You got the cops called on you. Twice,” she tells him, unimpressed.

“Actually, it was only once- wait, were you the one who called them?”

“That’s not important now. So, about the music-“

“Yeah. I…“ he runs his hand through the chaos of blond hair on top of his hair, scratching absentmindedly and looking at the floor like he’s embarrassed. Which serves him right. And it’s not at all endearing. (Mary, _stop_.)  “We’ll tone it down. And the cars… I’ll tell my friends to park somewhere else, or get a ride.”

She nods along to his words, suddenly feeling a little bit guilty for being so quick to write him off as the Worst Asshole to Ever Walk the Earth.

“I’m sorry we got off to a wrong start,” he says, “I didn’t even get your name.” He looks at her from under his eyelashes, suddenly seeming uncertain and shy and she didn’t’ even know people could _do_ that. It seemed like an invention of YA novels or something. “I’m Francis.” He meets her eyes and she’s again treated for a shade of blue they probably don’t have a name for.

She extends her hand.

“Mary.”

He smiles that idiotic smile again as he takes it, his eyes actually, legitimately crinkling at the corners. God. He gives her a little drunken flourish before going back inside.

“Queen Mary, your wish is my command.”

She walks back to her house, tugging her hoodie closer to herself, a smile pulling at her lips.

 

At 3:00 am she crawls back into bed, rejoicing from the barely there sound of music, and the taste of victory.

 

Coda

(3 am nearly ten years later finds her waking up at ungodly hours of the night again, the same person to blame, except then they are on the same side.)

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I no longer support the offensive mess that Reign has become, but I love the idea of Frary that Toby and Adelaide brought to life, and the Frary I have in my head. So, I’ve decided not to let Laurie McCarthy and her crew ruin something that I really like which is writing Frary fic. I'm not going to lie and say I'm totally back in the game because I only have a few more planned before I focus on other fandoms, but well, I hoped you liked it.


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